Rising Sun
by Bobbie23
Summary: Third and final instalment of Kathy's side of the story. Follows on from my other stories Into the Sun and Setting Sun, so you may want to read those first.


**Author Note – third and final instalment of Kathy's side of the story. Follows on from my other stories** _ **Into the Sun**_ **and** _ **Setting Sun**_ **, so you may want to read those first. Please read and review.**

 **Disclaimer - I don't own, just borrowing.**

Rising Sun

Somewhere between your sleepless night and third cup of coffee before eight am you've managed to convince yourself she'll think you're stalking her. There's no doubt in your mind that she's going to feel ambushed after yesterday. You tossed and turned in your bed all night worrying about what will happen if you don't intervene today. You have no idea if Elliot will do anything, you just think she deserves fair warning that Elliot knows you saw her. Of course, there would be nothing to intervene with if you hadn't opened your big mouth.

The wind rushes around the corner you're leaning into for protection and you miss the comforting warmth of the sun which beat down on you yesterday. You pull your coat tighter around you, unwilling to give up on her. You'll wait.

You've been standing outside the precinct in the cold for half an hour waiting for any sign of her. So far there's nothing. A lot of officers mill around, none of them you recognise, none of them recognise you. And you want to keep it that way. You know your attempt at being inconspicuous is laughable. You're nervous and it doesn't help that you don't want raise the suspicions of any passing officers. They look at you quizzically and you try to convince them that you're waiting for a friend, mindful not to drop Olivia's name because you don't want the news of your visit to reach her if you lose your nerve before you see her. You have no idea whether she's working today or if she's still stationed at this precinct or even with the police force at all. For all you know she could have left or taken another, less time consuming assignment after she became a mother. You doubt it, you know how dedicated she is to Special Victims. She wouldn't give up.

Olivia eventually emerges from the precinct with Fin in tow. Instinctively you reel back and duck behind your corner only to peer back around it to check you aren't seeing things. Sure enough, she's not a figment of your imagination and she's standing there with Fin, trying to tuck her hair behind her ear as it is blown around by the wind.

Never in all of the years you've known Olivia have you stood back and watched her. Not till yesterday anyway. This is stupid. You don't know why you think she needs to know you told Elliot about seeing her, about her son or why you think she deserves an explanation about why you never intervened between she and Elliot when she helped you both through the years or why you never spoke to her after he left her. You feel compelled to speak to her even if you're not sure what to say.

Moments after they emerge, they part and Fin turns in the opposite direction while Olivia turns towards you, her gaze eerily landing on you almost immediately. You balk and look at the ground, unable to do anything else as you wait for her to reach you. You listen keenly to her footsteps drawing closer, her heels clicking on the pavement. You're only able to lift your head when she's about a meter away from you. Meeting her expectant yet guarded gaze you can't help but feel guilty for the ambush you've sprung on her.

"Kathy," she greets sharply, not welcoming in the least but you'll take acknowledgement above being ignored.

"Olivia," you say quietly. Silence follows as you both take the opportunity to catalogue each other's appearance.

"Twice in two days, what's wrong?" Olivia prompts when your silence gets too much for her.

Your lips twist as you wrinkle your nose at the jibe. You don't argue, you would've said worse. Instead you look away briefly at a passing police car, breaking away before you make eye contact with the driver. "Do you have time to get a coffee?"

"I've just finished a night shift, the last thing I want is coffee," she replies with a shake of her head.

You don't blame her. You expected and wanted her to say something about getting home to her son. "Can we walk then?"

Olivia looks away and glances at her watch. At least she's contemplating your offer rather than shooting you down completely. "I need to get home," she says after a moment taking a step down the side walk.

"To your son?" You can't help prodding.

"Yeah," she sighs with a quick twitch of her lips and you can't help smiling lightly. She looks at her watch again as she steps away from you, suddenly anxious to get home. You implore her silently and she relents. "Noah."

Your smile widens and you nod. She doesn't share your satisfaction.

"What do you want Kathy?"

"I just…" you stumble. "I want to apologise for yesterday."

She stops and scrutinises you. "You don't need to apologise for anything Kathy," she promises you in a rush and you know she's trying to get rid of you without actually saying so.

Elliot used to try to placate you when you first started arguing; you hated it and then you argued about that too. There's no time to argue about deflection now, especially when Olivia is lying to save both of your dignities. "There's a lot to apologise for Olivia."

She scoffs and you roll your eyes at the similarities between her and Elliot. Avoiding any opportunity to discuss anything emotionally taxing at all costs, even the risk of starting an argument. "I don't have time for this Kathy."

Olivia starts walking away from you. Your legs start moving before you can stop them and you're swept up in their momentum. You catch up quickly and manage to keep up with her stride, refusing to meet the sideways glance she throws at you when she realises you're not going to let her shake you off. She slows slightly but you don't allow yourself to relax as you walk for a block in silence.

"Do you really want to do this out here?" You ask once you're far enough from the precinct that you feel safe enough to ask her that question.

"I don't think it matters where we do this Kathy, it's not a conversation either of us wants to have," she tersely replies. She's right, if you hadn't seen her yesterday you would have never sought her out today.

She turns the corner and you have no choice but to follow. You want her to hear what you have to say but you still don't know what you want to say to her. She turns another corner and you are annoyed at yourself for not knowing the streets of Manhattan as well as you should. You're not the only one you're angry at, you're angry at Elliot and you're starting to getting angry with Olivia for trying to ignore you. You don't want to blame her for that but it's becoming harder as her silence continues. It would be hypocritical of you to call her on it; you know four years of silence from your family has hurt her.

"You have nothing to say to me?" You ask swallowing your pride while steeling yourself for the answer.

Silence. Not even an acknowledgement. You know you're in the wrong but your patience isn't going to last much longer.

"I told Elliot," you blurt out in hope of getting her attention. After all that's what you came to tell her. It works and she stops in the middle of the sidewalk and turns to face you. Other pedestrians have to adjust their path to dodge you and you hear them grumbling under their breath as they walk away. You ignore them as you mirror her posture and stare back at her.

"What do you want Kathy?"

Her voice is so quiet but all of her frustration has disappeared. She sounds almost scared and childlike. If you didn't know her better, you might be tempted to reach out and hug her. But you do know her so you don't.

"I don't know if he's going to…I just thought you deserve to know that he knows," you explain.

"What exactly does he know?"

And with her almost whispered question you realise your visit will cause more pain if Elliot doesn't act on your information. It'll cause a bigger rift, a permanent irrevocable one. The damage has already been done though and it's partly your fault.

"He knows about your son."

Elliot had been quiet all night after you told him of the short scene you witnessed, the details just tumbled out of you. You didn't press him to talk to and he didn't ask you to elaborate. You knew where his head was, who his mind was with. He left after putting Eli to bed, bidding you a gruff and abrupt goodbye. You didn't say anything; you knew he had a long night of self-imposed torment ahead of him.

"Why did you tell him? What good would it do?"

"I thought it would help," you say sadly, tilting your head to the side. "I wanted to help."

She looks doubtful but she doesn't say anything.

"Guess I was four years too late."

"You know," Olivia breathes out through her teeth. "Four years is a long time to wait for someone to return your call."

"But you're still waiting for it."

Immediately you regret it. You're right, but you regret it.

She doesn't tell you you're wrong, just glares at you and you do your best not to back down while trying to look apologetic at the same time. "I should have done something sooner," you tell her. It's your guilt which spurred you into action. That and curiosity and hope.

"It's not your fault Kathy," Olivia exhales. "Elliot knew where to find me and he didn't."

She sounds like she's given up on him and any chance of mending their relationship. And that tiny spark of hope dies inside of you. "I never thought you would give up."

"You did," she retorts daringly, glancing at your bare ring finger.

"I'm not you Olivia." You didn't come here to exchange barbs with her. You don't mean to sound defensive but your relationship with Elliot is different from hers and suddenly you feel protective of them both, perhaps because you could've helped prevent what happened to theirs. You've failed at whatever you expected to come from today and you both know it.

After staring at each other for a long moment, Olivia realises you have nothing else to say her and she turns away from you and you finally let her go. She doesn't look back but you watch her cross the street. Half way down the block she stops and you look beyond her to see Elliot at the other end staring at her. You wait with baited breath for one of them to take the next step.


End file.
